


Breaking Limits

by ladycravenheart (Tauria)



Series: monkey tales [6]
Category: Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 01:50:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18356147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tauria/pseuds/ladycravenheart
Summary: Training left Chiro more and more frustrated with each passing day. He no longer felt as if he was showing any improvement. Which… wasn’t good. He had an entire host of people depending on him. The monkeys. Their allies. All of Shuggazoom City.Skeleton King was less human now than he had ever been–and he had already been pretty inhuman. There was no more playing around, no more games. His monsters were sent to hurt, to destroy, to kill. There was more on the line now than there had ever been before.(Except there wasn’t, really, it just felt like more because the stakes were personal this time.)But Chiro…He felt like he was falling behind.





	Breaking Limits

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by an anon on Tumblr: "breaking limits." 
> 
> This prompt was a lot of fun, even if I wasn’t sure where I was going to go with it at first. I finally just sat down and started writing, and seeing where it took me. In the end I think I kind of like it? 
> 
> This takes place during the War, maybe about six months to a year after the end of Object of Hate. I see this also taking place after a devastating loss, or a series of disastrous fights, though I didn’t make any references to that.

Training left Chiro more and more frustrated with each passing day. He no longer felt as if he was showing any  _improvement_. Which… wasn’t good. He had an entire host of people depending on him. The monkeys. Their allies.  _All of Shuggazoom City_.

Skeleton King was less human now than he had ever been–and he had already been pretty inhuman. There was no more playing around, no more games. His monsters were sent to hurt, to destroy, to  _kill_. There was more on the line now than there had ever been before.

(Except there wasn’t, really, it just  _felt_ like more because the stakes were personal this time.) 

But Chiro…

He felt like he was falling behind. 

Frustration climbed up his throat and he had to smother the urge to scream. Or maybe hit something. 

He just didn’t understand what was going on. It was like… it was like there was something holding him back. He didn’t know what it was, but he could feel it. Like a harness around his chest, a tether that kept him from cresting and unleashing the powers of a  _real_ Chosen One.

That was the crux of it all, really–he felt like a fake. 

There was a piece of him that wanted to go look up other Chosen Ones. People who wielded such a significant portion of the Power Primate, and used it to crush the threat of the Dark Ones. There was another part of him that was terrified to see how he held up against them.

He’d gone to Antauri about… all of it. Antauri told him it was fine. Normal, even. He said that everyone had their limits, and that was okay. That was why he had allies, after all. People to watch his back and keep him from falling.

Chiro nodded and smiled and left the monkey alone… but it hadn’t helped the frustration in his chest, or the way it swelled and pushed into his throat, made him vibrate with energy that kept him from sleeping.

After the third hour of doing nothing but staring at the clock, Chiro kicked the blankets off and got out of bed.

He just needed a quick walk through the robot, was all. Something to do other than toss and turn in bed. Maybe he’d grab a bite to eat, too. He hadn’t eaten much earlier. That was probably a bad thing.

(Gibson would normally get after him for it, but Gibson was a little preoccupied. They all were, really.) 

* * *

A walk and a bite to eat had turned into a visit to the training room. He’d kept the settings on low, even though he was just itching to turn it higher, higher until the tether around his chest was forced to  _snap_.

He was just sinking into the rhythm of things, that terrible tightness in his chest easing up, letting him  _breathe_ again when the training room… deactivated. Chiro came out of a roll and looked up, confused. He half expected to see Antauri’s disapproving frown behind the glass–but instead, he caught Nova’s worried gaze.

Chiro sighed. He sent her a smile and a wave, not really prepared to give any explanations but still trying to form them anyway.

 _Nightmares. I couldn’t get back to sleep again, so I thought I’d get some training in._ No, then she’d want to talk about it, or she’d send him to Antauri. Maybe not entirely a bad idea on either accounts, but then he’d end up having to explain that he lied. 

 _Sorry, Nova, just couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d burn the energy off_. That was pretty close to the truth, at least. There’d still be questions, though, but he could probably handle them.

Of course, he could also just go straight for the truth, the way he had with Antauri, and see if Nova had any different advice for him. Her way of doing things was generally different from Antauri’s anyway. (And, sometimes her way was closer to Chiro’s way than Antauri’s was.) 

He entered the training room and faced Nova. She looked him up and down. “Are you alright, Chiro?” Her voice was soft, the maternal edge to it making something in his chest warm. He thought of Nova as more of a big sister than a mother, but big sisters often did their fair share of mothering. Or so Chiro had heard, somewhere. Something about gender roles and expectations, but also occasionally just a facet of personality.

For Nova, he was pretty sure that was just part of her personality. Though, honestly, of all the monkeys, Gibson was the one with the biggest maternal instinct. Chiro would never say it to him, especially since he wasn’t sure he wanted to divide the team into traditional family roles anyway, but it was kind of true.

And made him all the fonder of the blue monkey, that was for sure.

Chiro gave Nova a shrug. “I’m not…  _not_ alright,” he said, truthfully. “I’ve just been feeling a bit strange lately. It’s hitting me kind of hard tonight, I guess, so I thought I’d work off some steam.” He gestured at the training room.

Nova nodded, because of all the monkeys, that would make perfect sense to her. He had lost count of the times he had woken up to find her out here. His mouth quirked a bit as he remembered how often he had been the one turning the training room off on her. 

“Do you need to see Gibson about it?” Nova asked.

Chiro shook his head. “I don’t think it’s medical, exactly,” he said. “It’s just… Have you ever thought you were capable of  _more_ , but you just. Couldn’t make yourself  _do it_?”

Nova leaned against the control panel, careful not to hit any buttons. “Maybe,” she said. “Do you mean… that you feel as if there’s a barrier, keeping you from accessing the things you’re truly capable of?”

Chiro nodded. “Yes! That’s it exactly.”

Nova smiled, a little. “It’s irritating,” she said. “I found one of mine while I was training with Offay. It kept me from reaching my Inner Primate.” 

Now that she mentioned it… this did kind of feel like when he had struggled with that. Only he was a lot more uncomfortably  _aware_ of it now. Probably because he had developed an understanding of himself, during all the meditation and training that Antauri and Nova plied him with. (Not to mention more confidence in his abilities.) 

“I conquered it, like you did. But I found another when I was working with Mandarin.” Her face darkened a bit, like it always did when their ex-leader was mentioned. “Mandarin could see it too. He had a way with those things. I don’t know how he did it. But he could see something that we couldn’t, and he knew that I wasn’t at my full potential yet. He tried to force it out of me, and, well…” She shrugged. “You know the story from there.”

He did. It wasn’t a pleasant story.

Nova waved a hand. “I know it’s stressful. And frustrating. But this isn’t something you can force. It happens when you’re ready.”

“But I  _am_ ready,” Chiro said. He hated how much of a teenager he sounded in that moment.

Nova shook her head. “If you were ready, you wouldn’t have the barrier,” she said, but her voice was gentle. “I know it isn’t easy, but you have to wait. There’s something holding you back. Maybe it’s a fear you don’t know you have, or maybe your body just knows it isn’t ready for the stress. Whatever it is, you have to stop pushing. Trying to force it. It isn’t going to do you any good, and you need to be at your best right now.” Her face clouded again. “We all do.”

Well, she’s not wrong about that. 

Chiro sighed. It still wasn’t the answer he wanted, but… He’ll take it. If he has to. (And it’s looking more and more like he does.) “Yeah,” he said. 

* * *

(In the end, Chiro does conquer that damn barrier. It happens during the final battle—though it isn’t actually planned to be such at the time. Someone is captured, or hurt—it all ends up being a little fuzzy for him in the end—and Chiro… well. Chiro kind of goes a little nuts. Shuggazoom gets a light show like never before seen, and Chiro finds out that breaking past your limits in such an… explosive way really takes a toll out of you.

And, well. It also ends up meaning that, despite Skeleton King’s lack of existence, their adventure isn’t quite over yet. Apparently Chosen Ones have abilities the Verans had never even dreamed of, when they taught Antauri.

They enjoy Shuggazoom at peace for a bit, before taking off into the stars again. This time, for answers about the Chosen One. And because nothing in life is ever simple, well, they find out that just because Skeleton King is gone, that doesn’t mean the Dark Ones have lost their grip on the universe.

That’s a story for another day, though.) 

**Author's Note:**

> Not so sure about that ending, or that everyone was in character… but like I said, this was fun :D If anyone wants to send me more, please do!!! :heart: 
> 
>  
> 
> [ladycravenheart](http://www.ladycravenheart.tumblr.com)  
> [livvywrites](http://www.livvywrites.tumblr.com)  
> [arrows-foresight-twinpistols](http://www.arrows-foresight-twinpistols.tumblr.com)


End file.
